Use Me

Over the past several weeks, Facebook users have had to endure significant changes to their beloved life sharing platform.  For many, the experience has left us shaken…and stirred.  Whether you’re a casual user or an ubersharer, social media has become such an integral part of our lives that, like email and cell phones, it’s getting hard to imagine life without it.

The difficult part of living with our new highly efficient online communication buddies is that we’re teased with the notion that we control the process, while learning that we are merely guinea pigs in a series of ongoing social media experiments.  These experiments belong to the owners of these powerful platforms.  As willing participants, we must remind ourselves that we are actually privileged to be along for the ride (imagine how it would feel to be excluded from the process).  It’s a hard pill to swallow!  Despite the fact that we publish the content, choose to share our lives and bring our friends to the party - this is indeed someone else’s party.

Facebook reminds us that we are guests at their home, when we login, see changes to the display of our news feed, learn about new features and settings, and that some basic rules of engagement have changed.  Say it ain’t so!  All of this has been done without asking us?  And, we’re told that more changes are in the works, and we’ll love them, they’re being put in place to create a better experience.  Who are we to doubt?

Bill Withers sang about it.  Facebook is the hot, hot chick that we’re dating.  Our friends tell us that we’re being used and our retort, “If it feels this good getting used…you can use me up!”